When Future and Past Clash
by LiveLaughLoveTogether13
Summary: The time is C1378 BCE at Olympus, Ancient Greece in other words. What happens when the Heroes of Old, and The Heroes of New come together to read the Percy Jackson Series. Percabeth. R & R please! Rated T for minor swearing.
1. Prolouge

Prologue:

"Hey Wise Girl," Percy said, pulling his girlfriends towards him. She snorted, and wrapped her arms around his waist. She looked up at him, and took in his appearance; he had a plain navy blue t-shirt on, with a sea-green hoddie, and wore ripped jeans, which showed off his tanned, muscular legs. Annabeth swallowed hard. His usual black hair was set in all types of directions, and his sea green eyes had a hint of mischief in them.

"Were finally alone," She murmured. He pulled her into a gentle kiss, sweet and short. Percy broke away, and started at his girlfriend. Her usually blond hair that would be in a pony tail, was let go, and reached her mid-back in curls. Her grey eyes were sparkling in the night.

"Hey! Break it up you two!" A familiar voice said. Biting back a groan, Percy turned to his cousin.

"What do you want Pinecone?" He asked irritated. Annabeth shoved him in the stomach, only to flinch in pain. _Damn Achilles Curse, _She thought. Percy saw this, and smirked. Annabeth silently fumed, until Percy pulled her towards him, and kissed the top of her head.

"Hey, can I join the party?" A shadowy voice said.

"Can't we have one second alone?" Percy mumbled as Thalia and Nico fist pumped.

"Be nice," Annabeth scolded. She brushed her short denim jeans, and fixed her white graphic tee.

"What are you doing here Thals?"

"Oh, Lady Artemis gave me the week of, you know, my leg and everything," Thalia said, pointing to her leg, that recently was crushed by Hera. Annabeth sighed, while Percy rubbed her arms affectionately.

"What about you Death Breath?" Percy asked. Nico mumbled something about hating his nickname.

"I'm not grounded anymore, so Dad said I could go to Camp Half-Blood," Nico responded. Percy and Thalia winced.

"I can't believe you got grounded to the Underworld," Thalia cringed. Nico nodded solemnly. He was about to respond when they were engulfed into a white light.

Olympus C1378 BCE

"Father! What should we do?" Athena asked, her long curls were hidden behind the owl mask she wore.

"I do not know my child, Hades, call upon the Heroes," Zeus declared. Hades nodded and summoned the Heroes of Greece. There were Hercules, Orion, Perseus and Thesues.

"Father, what is the matter?" Hercules asked.

"A problem has arisen..." Zeus was cut off, when four teenagers fell through the sky. Hestia summoned a couch to catch them. Three Demigods feel on the couch, just as the last one was about to hit the ground, one of the demigods jumped up and grasped her.

"Thanks Seaweed Brain," She said. The demigod dropped her down, just before pulling her down onto his lap. Aphrodite mentally squealed.

"Who are you?" Apollo demanded. He turned towards the girl with jet-black and electric blue eyes. "Although, I wouldn't mind knowing you," Apollo said, kissing Thalia's hand. Artemis rolled her eyes. Another maiden taken away by my brother. The girl smiled sweetly, then kicked him where the sun-don't-shine.* Artemis stifled a laugh.

"Don't talk to a Hunter like that," She smiled sweetly.

"Yes! I have a new hunter! In your face Apollo!" Artemis yelled, laughing at the sight of her brother, who was rolling around on the floor in agony. This is pretty ironic, considering he's the god of medicine.

"WHY DID YOU HURT MY SON?" Zeus exclaimed. The girl with jet-black hair raised an eyebrow.

"Okay... They don't know who we are," The girl said. The other demigods that were looking at the scene on amusement nodded.

"Care to explain?" Poseidon said. Just as he said that a huge box came falling down, on top of one of the demigods.

"Ow!" He shrieked. The others rolled their eyes.

"It doesn't even hurt Kelp Head," The pale boy said. He just pouted and the blond demigod pulled the note of the package.

_Dear Confused Demigods and Gods,_

_I have sent the future demigods to here, to show you what will happen in the future. I hope it will teach you that family is family, and all the problems you cause. Even though this will already happen, there is nothing that will change it. DO NOT KILL the demigods. They are vital to the future. Demigods, say you're__** full titles**__. __Heroes of Greece, say who you are first, then the new demigods. After, sit back and enjoy the books._

_Lots of Love,_

_-Mother Rhea. ___

_P.S time will be stopped until you complete all 5 books.]_

_P.S.S Percy, please don't say you're title, cause it'll ruin the books._

"Why would Percy's title ruin the books?" The blond girl said.

"I don't know, and I don't care! I don't get to say my title, I'm okay with it," The other demigod, who looked suspiciously like Poseidon said.

"Okay, so mother sent these demigods here, to read books?" Hades asked. When Athena nodded, everyone turned towards the Heroes of Greece.

"Thesues, Hero of Greece," A burly boy said. The demigods nodded, and smiled at the Hero.

"Orion, man of the Stars, Hero of Greece," The next one said. He had jet-black hair, that looked like Percy's, except it went to his shoulders, and had sea-green eyes.

"Perseus, Hero of Greece," A boy, with sky blue eyes said. The demigods again smiled warmly at the hero, while the pale guy, looked like he would faint.

"Hercules, Hero of Greece," The demigods all stiffened and the girl who fought Apollo, Lunged. At. Him.

"Thalia!" The pale boy said, pulling her back, and slapping her across the face. The girl slapped him back, then sighed.

"Sorry, lost my cool then," She mumbled.

"Okay, can you introduce yourselves?" Hestia asked.

"Okay, well, I'm Thalia Grace, Daughter Of Zeus," The girl said, looking at her father. Zeus' eyebrows furrowed. Why would his daughter try to attack his son?

"Lieutenant to Lady Artemis and Heroine of Olympus," She finished looking at the Gods. They're mouths were open. "How the heck did you get to be Lady Artemis' lieutenant?" Apollo asked, slightly upset.

"Because I'm awesome," She responded, sitting down.

"Nico Di Angelo, Son Of Hades, Heir to the Underworld, and Ghost King," The pale boy said. Nico smiled at his dad, who smiled back. Olympus jaw dropped. Hades. Never. Smiles.

"I'm Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena," She said smiling up at her mother. "Bearer of the Titan's Curse, Official Architect of Olympus, Heroine of Olympus,"

"I'm Percy Jackson, as it says in the note, I won't be saying my title," Percy said, smiling smugly. He had jet-black hair that went in all different directions, and big doe sea-green eyes.

"He must have a horrible title," Thesues said to his brothers and friends. Hercules was about to respond, when Nico and Thalia jumped up from the couch and screamed.

"I would KILL to have you're title!" They screeched at the same time. Percy raised an eyebrow at them, and sat next to Annabeth, putting his arm around her. This did not go unnoticed by the wisdom goddess and the love goddess.

"What are the books Lady Athena?" Perseus asked.

"Erm... The Lightning Thief, the Sea of Monsters, the Titan's Curse, the Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian," She said, smiling at the hero.

"Right, well could I start niece?" Hestia asked. Athena nodded, giving the Lightning Thief to her.

"The Lightning Thief, Chapter One, I Vaporised my Algebra Teacher," Hestia started.


	2. Chapter One:Die Maths!

"**I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher." **Hestia Read.

"How do you accidentally vaporize someone?" Theseus asked. Percy shrugged.

"**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood."**

"Don't we all," Perseus muttered.

"**If your reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: **

"Percy giving advice?" Nico asked amused.

" I feel so bad for whoever listens to it." Thalia said sadly.

"You know, you don't have to always be-"

"Yeah they do Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, cutting him off.

**Close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth and try to lead a normal life." **

"Little paranoid aren't we?" Apollo asked, looking at the

future demigods, they couldn't help but to let their mouths drop to the ground.

"Erm… did I say something wrong?" Apollo whispered to his sister.

"Is everything okay?" Artemis asked, the futures, realising they were causing a scene, stopped what they were doing.

"It's just weird seeing Apollo say something, well intelligent," Annabeth said.

"More like with respect," Nico countered.

"More like without something idiotic," Percy summed up.

"No, more responsible I say," Thalia said, which all the futures nodded at. Apollo smiled the white-sun-shining-smile that nearly blinded them, until he actually took in their words. He gulped nervously, as if scared to ask what he said next.

"H-how do I act like in the future?" Apollo asked looking worried.

"Player," Nico said, which Artemis clenched her teeth at.

"Rude," Annabeth said, which caused her to clench her hands.

"Disrespectful," Percy said, causing Artemis to hold on to her throne tightly.

"No more than you are Percy," Thalia countered, sensing her Mistress' dismay. The tension broke, but not before Artemis and Apollo flashed Thalia a smile, and Apollo mouthing thank you.

**Being a Half-Blood is dangerous. **

" Check." Orion said. Artemis frowned, knowing Orion after all.

**It's scary. **

" Check." Theseus said.

**Most of the time it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. **

"Check." Nico and Thalia said together, causing the gods to look fearful at their sons in the present who nodded whole heartedly.

" Of course _you _would know Percy." Annabeth commented, amused.

Percy grinned, while Poseidon, who felt a strange feeling to protect his son, groaned.

**If you're a normal kid reading this because you think its fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe this never happened. **

" Don't worry seaweed brain, you're not alone." Annabeth said kindly. Athena looked sick.

**But if you recognize yourself in these pages- if you feel something stirring- stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that it's only a matter of time before t_hey_ sense it too, and they'll come for you. **

**Don't say I didn't warn you. **

"You didn't." Nico said smirking.

"Sorry, but I was too busy saving you from a manticore!" Percy yelled at Nico, which caused most of the gods to pale at the thought. They wouldn't let Poseidon know, but they were warming up to Percy, well all except Hera, Zeus, Hades and Ares. His thoughts were quite amusing.

**My name is Percy Jackson. **

"No duh, it's Perry Johnson," Nico said in a high voice.

"Mr. D does not talk like that," Thalia said, giggling. Apollo couldn't help but think that her laugh sounded beautiful.

**I am twelve years old. Until a few months ago I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York. Am I a troubled kid. **

"Hell yeah!" Nico and Thalia yelled. Annabeth raised an eyebrow at Percy who smiled sheepishly.

"Can't argue with you there,"

**Yeah, you could say that.  
**"Good, you still agree." Nico said.

**I could start at any point in my short, miserable life. **

"Why would he have a short, miserable life?" Orion whispered to Hercules. Hercules shrugged and replied, "Like I care."

**But things really started going bad last May, when our sixth grade class took a field trip to Manhattan twenty eight mental case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus heading to the Metropolitan Museum of art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. **

"Good, very educational," Athena said, while the futures (except for Annabeth) discreetly rolled their eyes at Hestia, who had to hold back a giggle.

"Greek and Roman stuff? Really Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked. Thalia and Nico gave her a look that clearly said, "_You're really asking?" _

"Why do you call him that ridiculous name?" Hercules asked. Percy and Thalia stiffened up, while Nico replied.

"Percy is so oblivious, that Annabeth came to the conclusion that his head was full of Seaweed. Ergo, why she calls him Seaweed Brain." Nico seemed really happy about his explanation, while Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Well, I for one would like to say, that it sounds like torture," Orion remarked, causing Athena and Annabeth to glare at him, while Poseidon clapped him on the back.

**I know- it sounds like torture. **

"No! You've been infected by PJS!" Nico yelled, hiding behind Thalia.

"What the heck is PJS?" Annabeth asked.

"Yes, do tell!" Hermes said.

"PJS is Percy Jackson Syndrome, where he infects people, and they start to be like him," Thalia said, nodding like it was a real curse.

"One time! One time, someone acts like me, and you make a huge deal about it!" Percy yelled in his cousin's faces, who then flat out laughed.

"Erm… Percy," Annabeth started, "Some people actually already try to be you, in hope of getting a quest." This statement made Nico and Thalia laugh again.

**Most Yancy field trips were. But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip so I had hopes.**

"Is Mr. Brunner-"

"Yeah," replied Percy in a bored tone.

"So that's why you called-."

"Yeah," Percy replied in the same tone.

**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy, in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled, liked coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes in class. He also had this awesome collection of roman armour and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put him to sleep. **

"WHY WOULD YOU FALL ASLEEP? SCHOOL IS GOOD!" Athena yelled, causing everyone in the near vicinity to flinch. She was worse than Aphrodite when the local Togas 4 U were having a sale.

**I hope that this trip would be okay. At least I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble **

"Go ahead and jinks it," Hermes says, causing the gods to raise and eyebrow. Well except Hades, who kept trying, but ended up making a silly face.

**Boy, was I wrong. **

"What?" Nico asked.

"Did," Thalia said.

"You do?" They asked together, like they rehearsed it.

**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. **

"Oh, pray tell!" Apollo asked, rubbing his hand together.

**Like at my fifth grade school when we went to the Saratoga battlefield I had a revolutionary war cannon. I wasn't aiming at the school bus but I of course I got expelled anyways. **

"OH MY GODS!"

"That's hilarious,"

"Why didn't we do anything like that?"

"Because your responsible!" Hera snapped at Theseus, Orion and Perserus. Hercules was excluded, as he didn't like the futures.

**And before that at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the marine world shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that . . . Well, you get the idea. **

"That's awesome dude," Nico said, fist pumping Percy, to which the Gods raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I've got skills," Percy replied, smiling smugly.

"At what?" Thalia asked innocently, causing laughs to emanate out of the gods and heroes of the past. _**(A/N I will now call the heroes of the past Heroes, while the future heroes, futures, sorry if it's confusing)**_

**This trip I was determined to be good. **

**All the way into the city, to put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter and ketchup sandwich. **

"Euugh! I hate her already," Thalia mumbled, while Aphrodite nodded whole-heartedly.

"Never, would I think I live to see the day, that Thalia agrees something with the Goddess of Love," Percy said, wiping a fake tear. This was resulted in Percy getting an electric shock, that should've killed him, but he just stood up and stuck his tongue out at Thalia. This left the Past Heroes baffled.

**Grover was a easy target. **

"How so?" Hephaestus asked. This caused everyone to jump, as he hardlysaid anything.

**He was scrawny.**

"Nice," Hermes said sarcastically.

**He cried when he got frustrated. **

"How very kind of you Percy," Apollo said mockingly.

"You know, if Grover was here, he would trample you," Annabeth said, smirking when Percy visibly shuddered.

**He must've got held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne, and the start of a wispy beard on his top of all that he was crippled. **

"You have them most weirdest ways to describe your best friend," Nico said, raising his hands in the air.

"Hmm… Are you sure you're a son of Hades," Demeter asked, raising an eyebrow at Nico, this caused the gods to laugh, while Hades glared at his sister/mother-in-law.

**He had a note excusing him from P.E. for the rest of his life because he had some kid of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've see him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria. **

"Ugh! I can't believe he blew his covers just for some stupid enchiladas," Thalia huffed. As soon as she said this, the boys gasped very dramatically.

"You. Take. That. Back," They both said in sequence.

"Make me,"

All of a sudden, a golden sword was pulled out, as well as a spear and daggers.

"Let's do this Grace," Thalia growled at being called by her seconded name.

"Your going down Jackson," They circled each other, and the Gods were shocked that they turned from so carefree into deadly hunters. Nico rolled his eyes, like he sees this everyday.

"Excuse me, but if you're going to fight, do it outside, not inside OLYMPUS! What would Sally say?" Annabeth said, scolding them. Their eyes widened, and they quickly apologised, putting their weapons away. Thalia's spear turned into an anklet, which she quickly attached to her ankle, while Percy's sword transformed into its usual ballpoint pen.

"I don't know if I want to ask, but what is enchilada?" Demeter asked, wanting to know, just in case she needed to make some. She was the Goddess of Harvest after all.

"You don't know what they are?" Nico said, his voice going squeaky.

"Ignore him, he's going through 'the changes'," Thalia said quickly.

"Enchilada's are a Spanish dish, that takes a spicy twist on bread, and is rolled up like a burrito, it is then stuffed with chicken salsa and eaten while hot or cold," Annabeth said, speaking like it was straight from a dictionary. Percy rolled his eyes.

"You could have just said it was a chicken roll," He said, raising an eyebrow at Annabeth.

"Well, sorry for being so thorough," She said, a deadly look in her eyes. Percy's eyebrows furrowed.

"Did I say something wrong?"

Hestia took this as a sign to read.

**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck to his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because i was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death **

"What!" Annabeth yelled. Athena didn't like how her daughter cared so much about this demigod. She may not know who his Godly parent is, but he acted too much like Poseidon, carefree and inconsiderate.

**by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. **

"Oh…" Annabeth mumbled, while Percy smirked at her. She slapped his arm, only too pull back like it hurt her.

"Smirking is my thing, don't steal it," Was her only reply.

**"I'm am going to kill her." I mumbled. **

"Freaking do it!" Ares yelled. Looks like things don't change.

**Grover tried to calm me down." Its okay, I like peanut butter."**

"Well so do I, but in my hair?" Percy asked rhetorically. Nico, who didn't know he was speaking sarcastically replied, "I don't know, do you?" This caused blank faces from the futures and past demigods, while the Gods just ignored him.

**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch. **

"**That's it." I started to get up but Grover pulled me back to my seat. **

**" Your already on probation." He reminded me." You know who'll get blamed if anything bad happens." Looking back at it i wish I'd deck Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would have been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into. **

"Well, your always getting into sticky situations," Nico grumbled.

"Sticky situations?" Athena asked her eyes furrowed. She hated not knowing things.

"It's an expression," Annabeth replied.

**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. **

**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black and orange pottery. It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousands years. **

"The gods survived longer than that Percy," Annabeth said, in a bored tone.

"I was twelve, lighten up,"

**He gathered us around a thirteen foot tall stone column with a big sphinx on top, and stated telling us how it was a grave marker, a _stele, _for a girl are age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, **

"Oh my gods, Percy don't go to the dark side!" Nico yelled.

"Dude, you're death's son, I think you are the dark side," Percy retorted.The gods wondered if the future was always going to be so confusing as they seemed.

**but everybody around me was talking and every time I told them to shut up, the other chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**

"Ha, she mastered that one since you you-know-what for the second time," Nico said, laughing. Thalia raised an eyebrow, and looked even

**Was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when are last math teacher had a nervous break down. From her first day loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was a devil spawn. **

"**Well, we know I'm not devil spawn, that's Nico," Percy said. This caused Nico to frown, while everyone else chuckled. Even Hera had a ghost of a smile. **

**She would point her crooked finger at me, and say "Now, honey" real sweet, and i knew I was going to get after school detention for a month. **

Hermes winced. "That's harsh."

**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, and said, you're absolutely right. **

"Subtle," Artemis said, obviously figuring out that Mrs. Dodds was a monster a while ago.

**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art. Finally Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I turned around and said, will you _shut up?_ It came out louder then I meant it to. The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story. Mr. Jackson he said did you have a comment? My face was totally red. I said, no sir. Mr. Brunner pointed, "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?**

"Dude, you got owned!" Apollo said, laughing. Thalia raised an eyebrow questioningly at him. He just shrugged.

**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**

The elder gods shuddered.

"Worst time of my life," Hades said.

"Because the Underworld is full of dandelions," Demeter shot back.

**Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied.**

**"And he _did _this because..."**

**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god,**

**and—"**

"God!" Zeus yelled at Percy who raised his hand in a stop manner.

_He's going to get it now, _Hercules thought, inwardly smirking.

."Read the next line," was all he said.

"**God?" Mr. Brunner asked. **

**"Titan," I corrected myself.**

"See. I corrected myself," Percy said.

"No-one said you didn't Seaweed Brain," With this statement, Percy shrugged sheepishly.

**"And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**

"See, mother loved me best!" Zeus said, smirking happily.

"You don't change, do you father?" Thalia asked, chuckling slightly.

**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**

**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**

"Ugh, Eeew is right," Hades, said shivering at the thought.

**"—And so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**

"Hold up, you summed up centuries of fighting into 'there was a big fight and the gods won'?" Athena asked appalled.

"I say that's a real talent," Poseidon said, winking at Percy.

**Some snickers came from the group.**

"Why? He got the question right," Hephaestus grumbled. He never understood mortals.

**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids'," **

"Ever heard of a museum καλό-για-τίποτα μπάσταρδος," Annabeth spat. Percy wrapped an arm around her waist, whispering that she was making a scene. She quickly apologised, and leaned back in Percy's arms. This did not go unnoticed by Aphrodite and Athena.

"It matters if you're a demigod," Theseus said, backing Annabeth up.

"**And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "To paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**

"**Busted," Nico said laughing. Hestia smiled, and said the next sentence.**

**"Busted," Grover muttered. **

**The gods snickered, while Nico paled.**

"**Oh good gods, I think like a goat," This caused the gods to full out laugh at the son of Hades. **

**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**

**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears. **

"**More like horse ears," Percy whispered into Annabeth's ear, causing her to giggle silently. **

**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**

**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld**. **On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**

**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses. **

"That's because they are," Artemis said. Orion frowned at that.

**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**

**I knew that was coming. **

"Physic!" Apollo yelled. The futures laughed at that, until Annabeth realised that Apollo wasn't given the title yet.

**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**

**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**

**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**

**"About the Titans?"**

"You really are slow aren't you Percy?" Thalia asked, rolling her eyes.

**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**

**"Oh."**

"The famous Percy Jackson reply," Nico said, smirking at Percy.

**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**

**I wanted to get angry; this guy pushed me so hard.** **I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armour and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever **_**lived, **_**and their mother, and what god they worshiped.**

**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be _as good; _he expected me to be _better. _And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly.**

**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral. He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**

**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**

**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. **

"And the idiot mortals didn't see anything," Nico said, huffing at their ridiculous explanation.

**I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York State had been weird since Christmas.**

**We'd had massive snowstorms, flooding, and wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in. **

**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing. **

"Favouritism," Perseus said, the three heroes who liked the futures immediately thought of Chiron and Hercules.

**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from _that _school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**

**"Detention?" Grover asked.**

**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius." **

"You finally admitted it Perce!" Nico yelled, thumping his cousin's back, only to pull back in pain. This for some reason caused the other futures to laugh.

**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**

"He said what?" Thalia asked, but all the laughing in the room drowned it out.

**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it.**

**I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas.**

"Hold up, I just realised, why do we celebrate Christmas?" Nico asked, turning to Annabeth.

"I- I don't really know," She stuttered.

**I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. **

**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy** **remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**

"Aw, that's a love that a mother and son should have," Hera said, looking pointly at Ares.

**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**

**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap. **

Thalia began mumbling death threats and torture plans that even made Hades pale at the thought.

**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos. **

"What are Cheetos?" Demeter asked.

"Disgusting chips that I never want to have again," Nico grumbled.

"I don't think that there half bad," Percy said, shrugging slightly.

**I tried to stay cool. The school counsellor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**

A wave? Athena thought, her mind was in override as she thought of the hero's godly parent.

**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**

**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**

**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**

**"—the water—"**

**"—like it grabbed her—"**

"Poseidon, you're a son of Poseidon," Athena said, causing Hades and Zeus to glare at their brother. Poseidon, who didn't notice his brother's glare, smiled at Percy, and then winked at Orion.

"And a damn powerful one at that," Thalia said. Out of now-where Percy started to chuckle.

"Thalia I didn't think you were so dam grateful," This then caused Thalia to smirk.

"Well neither did I, dam you Percy Jackson," They both started to laugh, while Nico mouthed to the gods, 'Mentally Insane'.

"Do I want to know?" Annabeth asked them once they were done. They both shook their head, and then waving at Hestia to start reading again.

**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**

**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey—"**

**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**

"No! Never guess your punishment. I learnt my punishment," Hermes grumbled.

"Yes. Yes you did," Hera said, smirking evilly.

**That wasn't the right thing to say.**

"Obviously," Hermes said.

**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**

**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. _I _pushed her."**

**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**

"Literately," Nico said, chuckling darkly.

**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**

**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**

**"But—"**

**"You—**_**will**_—**stay—here."**

**Grover looked at me desperately.**

**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**

**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "_Now_."**

**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare.**

"Ha, I bet it's not as scary as mine," Nico said, staring at Percy. Apollo, Hestia, Hermes, Aphrodite and Demeter shuddered.

Percy smirked, and turned towards Nico, giving him his deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. A pin could be heard dropping. Everyone shivered, and tried to erase the image they just saw.

**Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**

**How'd she get there so fast?**

**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counsellor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**

"**Suuure, keep telling yourself that Perce," Thalia said, tapping Percy's head slowly. **

**I wasn't so sure.**

**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**

"Ugh, mistake number #1," Nico said.

**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between Mr. Brunner, and me like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel. I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**

**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**

"Mistake Number #2," Thalia said.

**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**

**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**

"Mistake Number 3#," They both said together.

**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**

**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making** **like growling.**

**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**

**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**

**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**

"Oh my gods, you actually used manners!" Thalia shouted, jumping on her seat.

"You are never polite, not even to the gods," Nico said, causing the Gods to raise an eyebrow.

"I've pissed of a lot of people alright," Percy said, raising his hands over his head.

**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**

**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**

**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**

"Keep telling yourself that Perce," Surprisingly, it was Orion who said this.

**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**

**Thunder shook the building.**

**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**

"**Nice," Percy said.**

**I didn't know what she was talking about.**

**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room. **

"This kid is goldmine!" Hermes yelled.

**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on _Tom Sawyer _from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**

"I did eventually read the book," He said, withering under Athena's glare.

**"Well?" she demanded.**

**"Ma'am, I don't..."**

**"Your time is up," she hissed.**

**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**

"HADES! YOU DARE SEND A FURY AFTER MY SON!" Poseidon yelled. Orion wasn't far from joining his father.

"Dude? Why didn't you tell me your fist monster was a fury?" Thalia asked, looking startled.

"Wait… first monster?" Perseus said.

**Then things got even stranger.**

"How can they get stranger?"

**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**

**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**

Apollo snorted, "What ho?"

**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**

**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**

**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**

**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**

"Wimp," Ares murmered. He was blast of his thrown by a wave of water, courtesy of a pissed of Sea God.

**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**

"Did anyone else get a weird picture of Alecto attacking honey?" Nico said. This caused Percy, Thalia and Annabeth to snort.

**And she flew straight at me.**

**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**

"Yeah, cause swinging a sword is so natural to a twelve year old," Thalia snorted.

"It is when you're the best swordsman at Camp since 300yrs," Annabeth said, smirking at Thalia.

**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through.**

**She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulphur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**

"Creepy," Hermes muttered.

**I was alone.**

**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**

**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**

"Ah, the fine work of the mist," Apollo said.

**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**

**Had I imagined the whole thing?**

**I went back outside.**

**It had started to rain.**

**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**

Poseidon and Orion said, "Who?"

**I said, "Who?"**

"Guess father and sons think alike," This caused Orion, Percy and Poseidon to smile at each other.

**"Our **_**teacher.**_ **Duh!" **

**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**

**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**

**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**

**He said, "Who?" **

**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me. **

"He needs tips on lying," Hermes said.

"**Not funny man," I told him, "This is serious." **

**Thunder boomed overhead.**

"Guess dad thinks it's serious as well," Thalia said. Theseus and Perseus nodded.

**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**

**I went over to him.**

**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**

"Yeah Percy, bring your equipment next time," Annabeth mock scolded.

**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**

**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**

**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**

**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**

**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?" **

"That's how you lie Chiron, make them think their going crazy," Hermes said, nodding approvingly.

"Who's reading next?" Hestia asked.

"I will," Nico said.

"You can read?" Thalia asked, mock shocked.

"Shut up," Nico said. "Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks Of Death,"


	3. Chapter Two: Nico's Socks

**91 REVIEWS! YAY! *Does a happy dance***

**Thanks for telling me Theseus is a son of Poseidon. I kinda forgot, cause I was watching Immortals, and they say that Theseus is just a mortal blessed by Zeus, so I kind of thought that he was Zeus' son, but thanks, and I'll incorporate some brotherly-father-bonding time soon! **

"**Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death,"** Nico started, raising an eyebrow at Percy.

"Really, The Socks of Death?" Thalia asked. Percy glared at her, "I remember a little daughter of Zeus' worst-" Percy was cut off by a hand muffling his words, and a very threatening murmur in his ear. Rest to say, he stayed well away from the daughter of Zeus when she was in one of her moods.

**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly.**

"Yes. Of course they would," Theseus said, rolling his eyes. Percy smiled cheekily at his half-brother.

**This twenty-four/seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. **

"Perce, everyone plays tricks on you, well, now it's just the Stolls, everyone's scared you'll activate your fishy powers, and permanently disable them," Nico said, nodding his head.

"Yeah, you can be scary when you want to," Annabeth said.

**The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**

**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**

"You are a psycho, the first step to recovery, is admitting you have a problem," Thalia said, lacing her fingers together.

**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**

**_No, that's absolutely pathetic, he could get hurt if he forget_ Hercules thought. **

**Almost.**

"Five drachmas it's Grover's fault," Thalia said to Nico.

"Deal," They spat on their hands and shook.

"The belief you have for your friend is truly horrible," Hestia said, from her hearth.

**But Grover couldn't fool me.**

"Ha! Pay up Death Breath!" Thalia said, doing a happy dance. ***A/N I can imagine her doing that in front of the gods*** which was kind of hard for her, as she still had a cast on her leg.

**When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, and then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**

"That son of your has very good observation skills, he knows exactly what to look for," Hermes said to Poseidon, who swelled with pride.

**Something was going on. Something _had _happened at the museum.**

"No duh, Sherlock," Nico said, there was an eerie silence.

"Who's Sherlock?" Perseus asked. The future's eyes bulged out.

"Wait, sorry, we forget that were from the future. Sherlock Homes is basically a famous fictional detective that solved many cases and is known all around the world. If I remember, I think his mother was Hecate," Annabeth said, and the Gods and Heroes nodded in understanding.

**I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**

"Your really out to get him, aren't you dad?" Nico asked his father. Hades nodded glumly.

**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. **

"I guess they really are," Poseidon said, pursing his lips. Theseus and Orion felt a pang of jealous, their father never treated them like he did with Percy.

**A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**

"Father, you really should calm down, your killing innocent mortals just trying to get to Percy," Artemis said to Zeus. Zeus just mumbled incoherently.

**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.**

"Humph," Annabeth exclaimed, glaring at Percy.

"What are these D's and F's?" Apollo asked.

"D's and F's are part of a scale that marks your work in school. A is the top, B is second, C is okay, D is bad, F is really bad," Thalia said. She was playing with her hunter bracelet, fidgeting slightly. She hated having her cast on, she wasn't allowed to anything, and Nico and Percy thought this was an opportunity to baby her.

**I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**

"Well done, child," Hermes said, smiling at Percy.

**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. **

Annabeth started to giggle. "I didn't know you knew such big words Percy."

**I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**

"Only you Perce, Only you," Nico said, before continuing reading.

**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**

**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**

**I was homesick.**

"Aw, does ickle wickle Pwercy want to go home to him mommy?" Ares said, laughing at this pathetic excuse for a Demigod.

"You shouldn't talk, you still live with yours," Artemis retorted. This caused the gods to laugh, especially when Ares turned red with anger.

"Why you-," He started, but then he narrowly missed an arrow.

"Touch my sister, and it'll be the last thing you do," Apollo said venomously.

Nico took this as a sign to read on.

**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**

"since when did Paul do gambling?" Thalia asked her cousin.

Percy's hands clenched. "This was before him, Gabe." His voice held nothing but

**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view** **of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend,**

"Aw, that's sweet, wait until he hears this," Annabeth said, smiling at Percy. Athena didn't like how her daughter acted around the sea spawn, not one bit, especially considering that her rival was his father.

**even if he was a little strange.**

"Maybe not so sweet," Hestia said.

**I worried how he'd survive next year without me.**

"You really are sweet," Demeter said. "He must have a lot of wheat in his diet." This statement caused the gods to roll their eyes and Hades to groan.

"Enough with the Harvest woman!" Hades soon was tangled

**I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**

**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for.**

"You actually studied for a test?" Thalia said, in mock pride.

**I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**

"Thank Gods for that," Poseidon said, raising his hands above his head.

"You are welcome Uncle Poseidon," Apollo said, smiling cheekily at his uncle. Poseidon rolled his eyes at his nephews antics.

**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the _Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology _across my dorm room. **

"Excuse me! My sister made that thank you very much!" Annabeth said, glaring at Percy.

"How dare you-" Nico, who continued to read, as Hestia asked him to, cut off Athena.

**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**

"I meant the spelling, not the actual people," Percy said, before anyone could speak. Athena closed her mouth.

**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**

"Well, were hardwired for Greek, not Roman," Annabeth said, leaning her head on Percy's shoulder.

"What is this Roman?" Hera asked, sneering at the future demigods, especially Thalia.

"You'll find out in the later millenniums," Thalia replied subtly.

**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**

"Eww, visual picture," Thalia said, shaking her head back and forth.

**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. _I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson._**

**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**

"Good, you need all the help you could get," Athena said.

**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**

"Aw, teacher's pet," Nico said, smirking at Percy. Percy raised an eyebrow before… "What's wrong with a teacher's pet?" Annabeth demanded, glaring at Nico.

He visibilily paled, and gulped. "N-nothing Annabeth, teacher's pets are cool, awesome." Annabeth nodded in a way that said, _mmhum…_

**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**

**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said,**

_**"...**_ **worried about Percy, sir."**

"And the secrets come out," Theseus said.

**I froze.**

**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**

"Fair point," Orion said. Percy smiled at him.

**I inched closer.**

**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the _school_! Now that we know for sure, and _they _know too—"**

**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**

Thalia snorted. "We'd be as old as the gods if we wait for Percy to mature." The gods laughed, while Percy stuck his tongue out at his older-but-somehow-younger-looking cousin. Apollo couldn't help but think that Thalia was amazing.

**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead line— _"_**

**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**

**"Sir, he _saw _her... ."**

**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that."**

"Well, not anymore," Nico sang. Percy rolled his eyes.

**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**

"He better not still blame himself," Thalia said murderously. Nico flinched, and all the futures looked down.

"He does, doesn't he? Remind me to give him a beating when we go home," Thalia said with clenched teeth.

"What are you talking about?" Apollo asked, but he was solely looking at Thalia. She blushed slightly, but replied, "You'll find out in the books." This caused Apollo to frown slightly. No-one noticed the little exchange, except for Artemis and a certain Love Goddess.

I love a forbidden romance, she thought, sighing contempt.

**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**

**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**

"Never give your position away!" Nico yelled at Percy.

"Okay, you've been hanging out with the Stolls too much," Annabeth, said glaring at Nico.

"Who are the Stolls, and what does 'hanging' mean," Hercules asked.

"The Stolls are sons of Hermes, and they are the official pranksters. I swear they get on Chiron's nerve every second of everyday," Nico said.

"Hanging is a future slang which means being around them," Annabeth answered.

**Mr. Brunner went silent.**

**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**

"Good, get rid of the evidence," Hermes praised Percy. "To get even better, you should read my book." He handed Percy a small black book, but it was as thick as Nico's head.

"Do not corrupt my son Hermes," Poseidon growled. Hermes lifted his hands in mock innocence.

**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**

"Why was Chiron in his true form in front of mortals?" Hera asked. Percy shrugged, not knowing himself.

**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**

**A few seconds later I heard a slow _clop-clop-clop, _like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, and then moved on.**

"It's Chiron!" Orion yelled, finally figuring out who he was.

"State the obvious," Apollo said, staring at Orion with a hostile look. Artemis rolled her eyes, and ran a hand through her fiery hair.She silently apologised to Orion for her brother's behaviour.

**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**

**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**

**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn..."**

**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**

"That must be miserable, having to repeat school over and over again," Thalia said, feeling sorry for Grover.

**"Don't remind me."**

**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**

**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**

**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm.**

**Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**

**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**

"Percy's never ready for a test," Nico said, snorting.

"Not true, anything sea or water related, I know," Percy said, sticking his tongue at his 'younger' cousin.

**I didn't answer.**

**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**

**"Just... tired."**

**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed. **

"Not going to work Pedro, Satyrs can sense emotions," Dionysus grumbled, already half drunk. The council was shocked, because #1 he was drunk and never wanted to do anything but drink. And #2, he was so quiet the council forget he was there.

"I do listen too you know," He mumbled, drinking more alcohol.

**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**

**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**

**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**

"THREE HOURS? I HAVE TO DO FLIPPING SIX!" Nico yelled outraged.

"You have Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton as your teachers, I wouldn't be complaining," Annabeth said to Nico.

"I'd prefer Michael Jackson," Thalia said, causing Percy to high five her.

"You don't appreciate the arts honestly," Annabeth said, frowning.

"Sorry to stop this very amusing fight, but who are Albert Einstein, Newton and Michael Jackson?" Hades asked. Actually, more like grumbled.

"Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton, as well as being Sons of Athena, were some of the most smartest people in history, or in your case future," Annabeth said, smiling at the council.

"Michael Jackson was one of the world's most influential people in the world, as well as an amazing singer," Thalia said. The gods nodded, understanding now.

**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**

**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**

**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**

"Ooh, that's harsh," Annabeth, said. Athena raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Well, Percy is obviously going to take what Chiron said the wrong way," Was all she said.

**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**

"Humph," Annabeth exclaimed, glaring at the book. Percy chuckled, and pulled Annabeth into a hug.

"Let. Go. Of. My. Daughter," Athena spat. Percy quickly let go, and looked at Athena fearfully. She inwardly _Glad to know he knows his place.___

**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**

**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**

**My eyes stung.**

**Here was my favourite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**

"See,"

"No-one denied you Wise Girl," Percy said, laughing at Annabeth, to which she pouted about. Suddenly, Hercules couldn't take it anymore.

"Why are you so laid back? You know you could be hurt at any minute!" Hercules said, more like screamed at them. Thalia tried to stand up. Emphasis on the tried.

"How do you think I got this leg. Hercules, it's broken, it's broken because a week ago we just fought in a war. And my best friend was killed. So many people were killed. He killed himself because he knew that if he lived, than so would the evil person. You know who that evil person was, it was-" Thalia was cut off by Percy placing a hand on her mouth.

"You said too much Thalia, they'll find out what their actions caused," Nico said, helping his cousin sit down. Tears were falling from her eyes, and Percy wrapped his arm around her, rubbing her arm brotherly. Annabeth held her hand, while tears rolled down her cheeks as well.

"Can we continue please?" Percy said to Nico. He nodded and continued. Apollo was looking at Thalia, she looked so heartbroken, so lost. His throat felt dry, but the voice in his head woke him up a little.

_So, you like the huntress,_ the voice of the love goddess bounced around his head. He scowled at her, only fuelling Aphrodite with more fun.

**"Right," I said, trembling.**

**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**

**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me."**

**"Percy—"**

**But I was already gone.**

"Peercy,"

"I know, I know, stupid mistake," He grumbled, twirling a cheap-looking pen around his fingers.

**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**

**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were _rich _juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**

"I don't think your family are nobodies Perce," Orion said.

"Yeah, with a brother like me, your defiantly not from a family of nobodies," Theseus said, smiling cheekily at his younger brother. Percy just rolled his eyes.

"Who knew you had a big ego?" Perseus said, raising an eyebrow at Theseus. The hall erupted in laughter, a sound that was rarely heard there.

**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city.**

**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**

**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**

**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**

"Stupid, insufferable, idiotic, boys!" Thalia exclaimed, lightning crackling around her.

"Keep going like that, darlin' you'll fry all of us," Apollo said, smirking at Thalia. She only responded by glaring at The Son God.

**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had,**

"What a coincidence," Nico said, smiling at Percy. The gods all rolled their eyes, getting used to the weird Son of Hades.

**so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**

**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen.**

**Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**

**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**

**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**

"Epic Percy, just epic," Thalia said, once all the laughing was done.

"Subtle aren't you Perce?" Theseus said, smirking at his, now red, brother.

"His personality is like Perseus here," Orion said, slapping Perseus on the back. This caused the futures to roar with laughter. Percy smiled sheepishly. "I'm named after you."

This caused Perseus to grin good-heartedly.

**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**

**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**

**Grover's eye twitched. "How much _did _you hear?"**

"Stupid Goat-Boy, he was suppose to say that he didn't know what the Hades he was talking about," Hermes said, slapping his hand to his forehead repeatedly.

**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**

**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers …"**

Nico snorted. "Demon math teachers."

"Does Alecto teach you math?" Thalia asked her cousin, when he nodded, the futures began giggling.

**"Grover—"**

**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and..."**

"Give it up, you're a really bad liar Grover," Nico said.

"Erm… Nico, you're talking to a book," Annabeth pointed out. This caused the gods and demigods to snicker.

"I knew that,"

**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**

**His ears turned pink.**

"Like they always do when he's embarrassed," Annabeth said, recalling the all the times he humiliated himself.

**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**

**The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**

"What's dyslexic?" Athena asked.

Annabeth replied, "It's what happens when the words that are read jumble up so you can't really read them."

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800)**_ _**009-0009**_

**"What's Half—"**

**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**

**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**

**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**

**He nodded. "Or...or if you need me."**

**"Why would I need you?"**

"Harsh," Hermes said. After all, they were his son's servants.

**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**

"Good," Hermes said.

**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**

**I stared at him.**

**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me.**

"Aw, that's really sweet," Annabeth, said cuddling with Percy.

**And here he was acting like he was the one who defended _me._**

**"Grover," I said, "What exactly are you protecting me from?"**

**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs.**

"Visual image," Nico said, before continuing reading.

**The driver cursed and steered the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.**

**After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**

**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**

"Mmmm… I'm hungry," Apollo said, to prove his statement, his stomach growled. Hera rolled her eyes.

"Okay, after this chapter we'll eat," She said, waving at Nico to continue reading.

**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice_. _There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**

A cold atmosphere took over Olympus. Percy scooted away from Annabeth a little. He didn't tell her about this.

**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**

No, not him, Poseidon thought, his face visibly paling.

**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**

"YOU SAW THE FATES! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? I'M GONNA KILL YOU PERSEUS JACKSON!" Annabeth screeched. She looked like she was close to tears.

"Annie, calm down, okay, I'm right here, don't worry," Percy said, pulling Annabeth near him. He rubbed her back affectionately, bringing her closer to him. The whole room was silent, wondering how Percy had evaded the fates. Percy glared at Nico, causing him to carry on reading.

**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**

**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**

**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**

**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**

**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**

"There you go again," Thalia muttered. She didn't expect anybody to hear her, but surprise, surprise, they did. She noticed that everyone was looking at her, silently asking her what she was on about. She sighed.

"Percy always tries to diffuse the tension, he throws bad jokes to make us forget that we might die any second," Thalia explained. Nico nodded, while Annabeth was still sniffling in Percy's arms.

**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**

**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**

**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**

**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**

**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**

**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that _snip _across four lanes of traffic.**

Annabeth flinched again, tears filing her eyes. Percy kissed her forehead, showing her that he was alive and right next to her.

**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**

**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**

**The passengers cheered.**

**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**

**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**

"The first sign," Hercules muttered under his breath. No-one heard him, except his mother, Hera, who sent him a glare.

**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**

**"Grover?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"What are you not telling me?"**

"Everything," Nico breathed.

**He dabbed his forehead with his shirtsleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**

**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**

."They are much worse hero, much worse," Hestia said gravely.

**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**

**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**

**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**

"Observant," Artemis said, her eyebrows furrowing.

**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**

**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**

**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**

"Again with the blaming himself. Remind me to have a little chat with our satyr friend," Thalia said. This caused the gods to relax a bit, but Annabeth still clung to Percy for dear life.

**"What last time?"**

**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**

**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**

**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**

**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**

"10 drachmas he doesn't keep the promise," Hermes said to Apollo. He smirked, "Deal."

**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**

**No answer.**

**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**

Annabeth flinched, as well as Poseidon, Theseus, Orion, Perseus, Nico, Thalia and all the other gods who liked Percy. Percy continued to rub Annabeth's back comfortingly, Athena hated seeing how much pain her daughter was in, but even more as it was because the fates said that the sea spawn was going to die.

**He looked at me mournfully; like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**

"Well that left off on a light note," Percy said cheekily. Just like that, the tension in the room escaped immediately.

"Who's reading next?" Annabeth hiccupped.

"I will," Artemis said, taking the book from Nico.

She cleared her throat. "Chapter Three, Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants."


	4. Chapter Three: What are Pants? Extract

**I know I haven't updated in a while, I do have serious writers block on this story. But don't worry, to keep you guys entertained I'm giving you a little extract from the actual chapter! **

* * *

"**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**

"Mmn, true that!" Nico said, raising a hand for a fist bump. When Thalia didn't, he raised her hand and fist bumped it with his.

"What is that? It looks like it would hurt," Theseus said. Thalia smiled brightly before, explaining what fist bumping was.

"Why would they do that? It's quite stupid really," Hercules responded, straight after Thalia had finished explaining.

Perseus glared at his half-brother, as he saw Thalia look crescent fall. He stood up from his seat next to Theseus and Orion, and sat next to his younger sister, placing an arm around her protectively. They've only known each other for a couple of minutes, but he already felt protective of his younger sister. She reminded him of the one he lost. In a way, it was like the Gods of the future were blessing him with a second chance."

* * *

**I will hopefully upload the chapter soon, but thanks for all the reviews, and I will be carrying on this story. **

**=D!**

**-LiveLaughLoveTogether13**


	5. Chapter Four: What are Pants?

_**Thank you to my awesome reviews, PurpleGoddess, LuvPeaceCandy, MollyTheDragoness, TinyRules, Stevens Angel, Omega, Guest, Stardiva22772, TheAwesome101, mcl2000, littlesnipper, jamblue00, Versia, DeltaFive-O, Starla Daughter of Dememter, I'm Brooke Daughter of Dememter, Sparklegirl18, Tyche, Sasaway, Balletdancer5678, harrypotterseriesrocks, Featherfur, jenn008, Annechase, O-Rachell-O, Silver Moon Huntress, Youngauthor234, TheDrowningAuthor, thiskittenhasclaws2, RawPolish (Thank you for the review, I'm working hard on making them more accurate), Block Out The Noise, Anime Princess, huskielover94. **_

_**Okay Guys, some people have asked me if I was going to include The Lost Heroes, which I am considering, just not at the moment, as you know, they just fought the Battle of Manhattan. Also, if Jason was to come, than he would be around eight nine years old, because if you count Thalia's actual age, which is twenty-three, then take away eleven years it's like nine or eight. So, I'm kind of confused because somehow, in two years he becomes sixteen? Erm… that's obviously not right, so, okay this obviously proves that Math's isn't my strongest subject, so let's just get on with the story! **_

_**-LiveLaughLoveTogether13**_

* * *

Chapter Three: What Are Pants?

"**Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants," **Lady Artemis spoke, raising an eyebrow at the future demigods. They all seemed to be holding back laughs, until Thalia chuckled, sending them off on a full-blown out laugh.

"What are pants?" Hercules asked snootily. The rest of the Gods and Heroes from the past nodded, actually quite confused. Annabeth smirked slightly, as she took in their appearance. The Heroes were wearing typical Greek armor type suits, while the gods wore Togas. Thalia smiled, before pointing at Percy blue jeans, and Nico's black skinny pants. Both her and Annabeth were wearing denim shorts, for Thalia, because they were easier to put on over the cast, and Annabeth because there better in combat training.

"Then, what are you wearing?" Artemis asked, eyeing Annabeth and Thalia's shorts with disgust.

Thalia blushed slightly, before looking at Annabeth, who had the same blush as Thalia spread across her cheeks.

"There shorts." By the tone of Annabeth's voice, Artemis decided not to ask them to elaborate.

"I'm only wearing them because it's easier to get over my cast," Thalia pointed out, trying to justify herself.

"I wanted to ask you that, what a cast is." Apollo asked. His eyes wondered towards her slightly tanned legs, until resting on the electric blue wrap. He swallowed the lump that appeared in his throat.

"Oh, well you see, I broke my leg-"

"YOU WHAT?!" Artemis, Zeus and surprisingly Apollo yelled.

"What, people break legs and arms all the time," Nico said, trying to help Thalia's case. "And besides, only a couple of people have died from breaking their bones." Thalia, Annabeth and even Percy literally face-palmed.

"Not helping Death Breath," Thalia said, before looking at Annabeth for help.

"Okay, basically, Thalia broke her leg in battle, and in the future, a cast is used to keep the bone in shape after it has been fixed. And lucky Thalia, got her bone fixed by Will," Annabeth asked, and Thalia once again faced palmed.

"Why would she be lucky?" Artemis asked.

"Who is Will?" Apollo asked, his eyes narrowing. Whether Artemis knew it or not, Apollo cared about all of her hunters, they were like a bunch of annoying sisters in a way.

"Well, she was lucky, because Will… erm he's… the best healer in camp," Percy said finally, pretty happy that he saved Thalia from not admitting her horrible crush on Apollo's son. Who could blame her, almost all the people at Camp Half-Blood and even the Hunters admitted that Will was a fine specimen.

"Never thought I see the day when Percy would be the one who would save you, with words especially," Annabeth whispered in Thalia's ears, which she nodded whole-heartedly.

"Oh, and who is he exactly?" Apollo asked his eyebrow raising. Thalia didn't know why he was so hostile, especially to Will.

"He's your son," She said, making Olympus fall silent.

"Oh," Apollo said sheepishly, sinking further into his throne. He waved at Artemis to carry on reading.

**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**

Almost all the females in the room turned to glare at Percy. He raised his hands in a mock surrender type of way.

**I know, I know. It was rude.**

"Well at least the boy knows," Hera nodded in approval towards Percy.

**But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"**

"He still blames himself?" Thalia demanded, electricity crackling around her. The futures all looked away from her, focusing on anything in the room, but Thalia.

"Blames himself for what?" Perseus asked his younger sister.

"Oh nothing, It'll probably be mentioned in the book," She said sheepishly.

"Tell us," Hercules asked, hoping to say it in an intimidating way, but it turned out to be more of a whine instead.

"No," She said, pouting.

Yep, you read right. Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus, Ruler of the Sky, King of the Gods… pouted.

"Go on Thalia, tell," Theseus said, and Thalia rolled her eyes, before closing her eyes, reliving the last moments before she died. She sighed through her mouth, before looking at Artemis pleadingly. Suddenly, Percy lifted Annabeth in the air, and plopped her on his right, so he was sitting next to Thalia.

"Come here, baby sis," He said, and Thalia laid her head on Percy's shoulder, closing her eyes.

"Please continue Milady," Annabeth's voice was different than it had been before they met; it was hollowed, graver in a way.

**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, and then made a beeline for the restroom.**

"Smart boy you have Uncle Poseidon," Hermes winked at his Percy. "Waited at the right moment and took his shot, could be a great thief one day."

Poseidon glared at Hermes, "You will not corrupt my son, Hermes." Rest says that the God of Thieves never looked Poseidon in the eye again.

**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**

**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**

"Dude, I know where you live!" Nico said, smiling creepily at Percy. Percy's eyes furrowed, as he looked at his somehow, older but trapped in a younger body, cousin.

"You do know where I live, Nico,"

**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**

"One Word, I don't think that's really possible," Thalia said. Nico was still his moody self, but he managed to nod, signaling that he was agreeing with Thalia.

"Maybe awesome?"

"No- that doesn't go anywhere closes to her. What about epic?"

"Awe-inspiring?" Annabeth suggested, but Thalia shook her head again, and before she could speak, Orion had cut her.

"My Lady, could we continue to read please?" Orion asked Artemis, who then in respond began reading, a slight blush circling her cheeks.

**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**

"Mmn, true that!" Nico said, raising a hand for a fist bump. When Thalia didn't, he raised her hand and fist bumped it with his.

"What is that? It looks like it would hurt," Theseus said. Thalia smiled brightly before, explaining what fist bumping was. Theseus laughed along with Orion and Perseus, while Hercules frowned.

"Why would they do that? It's quite stupid really," Hercules responded, straight after Thalia had finished explaining. Perseus glared at his half-brother, as he saw Thalia look crescent fall. He stood up from his seat next to Theseus and Orion, and sat next to his younger sister, placing an arm around her protectively. They've only known each other for a couple of minutes, but he already felt protective of his younger sister. She reminded him of the one he lost. In a way, it was like the Gods of the future were blessing him with a second chance.

**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. **

"A plane crash?" Thalia asked Percy, who then nodded. Thalia then went and sent her father the most bloodcurdling glare ever, even worse than Percy's I'll-Kill-You-Later Stare. Which we all know is impossible.

"Why is she glaring at me?" Zeus asked his wife. Hera rolled her eyes, before ignoring him.

"It's making uncomfortable," He mumbled.

"Why are you glaring at Father, sister?" Hercules sneered, and the word 'sister' seemed to twist in his mouth, like when you've eaten something bad.

Thalia rolled her eyes before answering, directing the answer towards Perseus instead of Hercules.

"A plane is a mobile that allows mortals and demigods alike, to fly across the sky to get to another destination, like, say Greece to England, oh wait, England hasn't been found yet," Thalia thought as an afterthought.

"So, sometimes when father is angry, he knocks an airplane out of the sky, thus killing hundreds of mortals and demigods alike," She continued. Most gods seemed horrified that their leader would do that, but Zeus huffed and looked away, signaling Lady Artemis to carry on reading.

"Well, this proves that I am the well-behaving brother Zeus," Poseidon said smugly, grinning like a fool.

"Sorry to burst your bubble dad, but you're as bad as Uncle Z. Except you do it less often, but still with the same concept," Percy said, shrugging his shoulders, but then stopped, realizing that Thalia's head was still on his shoulders. Annabeth rolled her eyes, before laying her head on Percy's other shoulder. Nico looked at all of them, frowning, before he thought, what the heck, and leant on Thalia's arm. The Gods and Heroes of the past all looked at the future demigods; they all looked close, peaceful even. Almost everyone wondered why they couldn't be like that.

**She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**

"I don't get it," Athena frowned.

Everyone in the room swiveled their heads to the Wisdom Goddess, their mouths touching the ground.

"Well that's a first," Hermes whispered to his brother Apollo. Apollo nodded his eyes still wide.

"Way to go Percy, you broke my mom!" Annabeth said, slapping her hand across Percy's head. It looked like it should have hurt him, but Annabeth pulled back in pain. Everyone snapped their attention to the daughter of Athena, worried about what would happen. To their surprise, Thalia and Nico burst into laughter, while Percy was fretting on where Annabeth hurt herself.

"Calm down Seaweed Brain, I'M FINE," She shouted the last two words into his ear. He frowned, before wrapping his arms around her protectively. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but complied, laying her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her forehead, and Annabeth knew why he was acting like this. Ever since the war, Percy's been even more protective over everyone in camp. He's scared he's going to lose one of them again, and he hates having his family in danger. Yes, even the Ares cabin.

The attention then turned back to Athena.

"What do you not get Sister?" Artemis asked, her head tilting to the side.

"What I don't understand is how someone like young Percy's mother, who seems like such a bright women, would do with Poseidon?" Athena asked innocently. Poseidon stuttered, before glaring at Athena, to which she smiled brightly at her Uncle.

"Continue, please Artemis,"

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him because **_**it **_**makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**

**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**

Hermes whistled. "Not a lie, but not exactly the truth, she's remarkable Uncle,"

Poseidon didn't know what to say about his future lover, except that he always felt a warm feeling inside his stomach whenever she was mentioned.

**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**

"**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano,**

"What kind of name is that?" Perseus said, his nose scrunching up in distaste. Nico snorted, and seemed to hold something in.

"Spit it out Nico," Thalia said, looking at him in annoyance.

"Percy Ugliano…" He snickered, causing everyone in the room to laugh, except for the future, blushing Son of Poseidon.

**who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him,** **then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick named him Smelly Gabe. **

**I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**

**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**

**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**

**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**

**"Where's my mom?"**

**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**

"WHAT!" Thalia yelled, shooting straight up, which caused her to topple over slightly. Nico caught her, and sat her back down, which she refused to. She turned on her heel, which was a challenge with the cast on her leg, and looked at Percy, her hands on her hips. Annabeth was fuming, and you could see she was waiting to explode. Even Nico was affected by that simple seven worded sentence.

"Not to interrupt anything, but what is 'cash,'" Orion asked, his index finger pointing in the air in an interrupting manner.

"Cash is the mortal equivalent to drachmas," Annabeth said, her teeth clenched.

"THAT HELLHOUND ASKED YOU FOR MONEY!" Theseus, Poseidon and Orion screeched, and Percy placed two fingers in his ears, as if the volume had burst his ear-drums, which it might have done.

"Please read on," Percy said looking at Artemis.

"Oh, we're not done yet Perseus Jackson," Annabeth glowered, while Artemis picked up the book, and started from where she left off.

**That was it. No **_**Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**_

**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**

"Ewe!" All the girls said to this**.**

**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**

"HE DID WHAT!" All of the futures said, looking furious. Annabeth's stormy-grey eyes were murderous, Thalia had electricity crackling around her, and Nico's hands were flickering with black flames.

"Guys, calm down," Percy said with authority, and now the Gods and Heroes realized what Percy was to them, he wasn't just their friend, he was their leader.

"What does that mean," Orion asked, referring to the last sentence.

"It is the phrase used when someone would punch another person until he/she was unconscious," Thalia said through gritted teeth. She seemed to be doing that a lot since she read about this. All the gods seemed appalled that an adult would do this, to a child no less.

"**I don't have any cash," I told him.**

**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**

**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**

"Please don't tell me she did," Nico said, placing his head into his hands.

"But she did," Annabeth replied, and waved at Artemis to continue, ignoring the questioning glances that the past heroes and gods were giving to the future demigods.

**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**

**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**

"At least someone has a heart," Aphrodite said, sniffling slightly. She had been quiet for a while, so people had forgotten she was there.

**"Am I **_**right**_**?**_**" **_**Gabe repeated.**

**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**

"I take that back, they're all horrid pigs," Aphrodite said scrunching her nose in disgust.

**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**

"So do I," Almost everyone in the room said in union.

**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**

**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." **

"Sure, it's like saying Annabeth had her own Spider Emporium," When Nico said this, Annabeth and Athena couldn't help the shudder run through her body.

**He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**

"That is rank," Thalia said, fake gagging.

**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**

"Ah, got to love sarcasm," Percy said, trying to lighten up the mood. He got a few chuckles, but still everyone was a bit upset.

**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds** **or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**

"It can't be that bad," Theseus said his eyebrows rose.

"No, it's worse," Percy said, shivering at the memory.

**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**

Almost everyone on Olympus shivered at Percy's description. Except for Ares, who grinned, thinking that a fight was coming soon.

**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**

Nico, Thalia and Annabeth snickered at Percy.

"The fact that you're so paranoid that you actually thought that Sally is a monster, just proves that your heads full of seaweed, Seaweed Brain,"

**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**

"Aw…" The female population of Olympus said, including Nico, though him and Thalia both said it in a mocking manner.

**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room.**

"Isn't that the truth?" Nico said, pumping his hand in the air. Thalia rolled her eyes, before muttering something about some very dark torture methods for Death's Son, so dark, that it has been blocked by the Fates.

**Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad.**

"How a mother should be," Thalia said, reminiscing the time she spent with her mother. Everyone noticed the darkened mood, and so Artemis began to read again.

**I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**

"Wow, that women has some will power," Apollo said, admirably. Artemis rolled her eyes, before smacking him on his head, stating that he was interrupting her reading.

**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**

"What is Christmas?" Perseus said. Thalia, Nico and Percy all gasped ominously, before Annabeth rolled her eyes, muttering about immature demigods.

"Christmas is like a celebration, around the time of December, when it snows. Naturally, it is a Christian festival," Annabeth replied, answering Perseus' question.

"Yeah, I needed to ask about that, if we're demigods, why do we celebrate Christmas?" Percy said, and for once Annabeth did not know the answer.

**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**

"Damn, another reason why I stay your house, Perce," Nico commented.

**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?**

"Yes, was her wittle boy doing alright?" Thalia said in a baby voice, and the Gods laughed at the warmth flushing to Percy's cheeks.

"I'm not going to comment on that,"

**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**

"Men," Thalia and Artemis snorted, and Artemis felt a swell of pride inside her, as she knew that her hunter was on her side completely. Apollo couldn't help but feel sight dejected by what Thalia said, but shoved it down, and smiled that blinding smile of his.

**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**

"Get your own bean dip you-"

_The rest of the sentence has been filtered due to unauthorized torture methods and extreme cursing. The Fates apologies for any inconvenience. _

**I gritted my teeth.**

As did most of the occupants of Olympus

**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**

"Well, I'll change that, as long as he treats her with respect, and makes her happy, he could be homeless and I wouldn't care," Percy said immediately, not thinking what kind of effect it would have to the Gods. Aphrodite was hyperventilating, due to Percy's 'sweetness', and Artemis was questioning whether all men were as bad as they seemed.

"Never knew you were so deep, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, snuggling into his arms.

**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself.**

"Wow…" Nico said, and once again, Artemis shushed him for interrupting her while she was reading.

**I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**

"Okay, now that's stretching things a little too far,"

**Until that trip to the museum… **

"Way to be ominous Perce," Thalia snorted.

**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**

**"No, Mom."**

Annabeth and Thalia began to glared at Percy, causing him to become uncomfortable.

"Please read, my Lady," Percy asked Artemis pleadingly, and Artemis was going to wait, thinking that it was very amusing seeing Percy Jackson cower under two female's glare, but decided to give the demigod pity.

**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**

**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**

**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**

**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**

**"Three nights—same cabin."**

**"When?"**

**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**

Percy smiled fondly at the memory of Montauk, resting his head on Annabeth's.

"What or more specifically where is Montauk?" Athena asked. Percy smiled lovingly.

"It's a beach, more importantly, it's were Mom and Dad met,"

**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**

"Not enough money my as- bottom," Nico rephrased once he saw the deathly glare Annabeth was giving him.

"Language,"

**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**

**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**

**"I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**

**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**

**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**

"He damn well better let you go," Poseidon said furiously.

**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your step father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**

"Oooh, Bribery,"

**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**

**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**

**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**

**"We'll be very careful."**

**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**

"He paid for the poker game," Nico exclaimed.

**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**

"Percy, please tell me you didn't," Thalia pleaded, smiling evilly at her cousin. Percy shook his head, confused as were the other people of Olympus.

"Good, cause when I'm through with him, he's going to wish you did instead," She replied, and no-one denied the warning in her voice. Lady Artemis raised an eyebrow at her lieutenant, while Apollo looked slightly scared. Thalia smiled brightly at both of them, and Artemis took this as a sign to start reading again.

**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**

**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**

"That's what we would like to know," Theseus stated, his eyes furrowing as he looked at his younger brother. Percy was a lot younger than he was, and according to the timeline of the books, he's been doing this for a long time. But that doesn't mean he didn't like it.

**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**

"Okay, even Poseidon would notice that amount of sarcasm," Athena said, while Poseidon's eyes scrunched up in frustration. It wasn't until Artemis picked up the book, that he realized what she meant.

"Hey!"

**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**

**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**

**He went back to his game.**

**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**

_She knows,_ Annabeth thought, but then again, she had always known that Percy defiantly did not inherit Sally's high IQ.

**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**

**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**

"Yeah, go back to your seven-layer dip, I'll make sure it's your last," Perseus mumbled, although Orion did hear him, and tried to control a very unmanly giggle.

**An hour later we were ready to leave.**

**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.**

**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**

"Like he'd be driving," Theseus sneered. He liked Gabe less and less.

**Like I'd be the one driving. **

"Scary," Nico whispered looking at Thalia while she flipped him, discreetly of course, the bird.

"If anyone asks, you think like me, alright," Theseus said to Percy who was face to face with him. Percy shrugged his shoulders, but a small smirk was stretching over his face, as he leaned back in the seat, and laid his hands around the back of Annabeth's seat.

**I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**

"Father-"Orion started,

"Already on it," Poseidon said, grinning like a madman.

**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair case as if he'd been shot from a cannon. Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**

"How is that possible?" Perseus said to his namesake. This, to which Percy just shrugged, not knowing the real answer.

"Which reminds me, how did I do that?" He said, not turning to Athena, but to Annabeth instead. Most expected to see an angry Athena, instead they saw one filled with pride, as she looked at her daughter.

"Well, there are only two things I can think of, 1. There were some water particles in the air, and you used your power for that, or 2. He really was purely evil," Annabeth responded, looking at her mother for confirmation, to which Athena nodded.

**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**

**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets,**

Annabeth and Athena shuddered, to which Poseidon and Percy rolled their eyes to.

"Honestly, you'd think they were afraid of something more sensible," Poseidon said, and Percy nodded, agreeing whole-heartedly. Both Athena and Annabeth turned their glare on their respective person, and Poseidon and Percy both felt the glare of the Wisdom Goddess and her daughter.

**and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**

"You'd think that he wouldn't mind it," Hestia said, and most people jumped, as they had not noticed she was in the room.

**I loved the place.**

Thalia and Nico snorted.

**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**

"Who knew Poseidon could be a romantic," Aphrodite smiled.

**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**

"No wonder you fell for her brother," Hades said.

**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**

"Why is everything blue?" Zeus asked, pouting.

**I guess I should explain the blue food.**

"Oh," He said, ignoring the faces that looked like they were about to burst out laughing at any moment.

**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**

Thalia snorted. "You don't have a rebellious streak, more like a small slither of compliance,"

**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash.**

Once again, Thalia glared at her father, and was joined by Perseus, Thesues and Orion.

**She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**

**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**

**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**

Everyone in the room looked at both Poseidon and Percy, and realized that they did look each other.

**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**

Poseidon smiled warmly at his son. _Oh yes, I am very proud, just like I am with all my other sons. _

**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**

"He doesn't care about that, Perce," Annabeth said, smiling at Percy. Percy smiled back, before kissing her cheek.

**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**

**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**

**"But... he knew me as a baby."**

**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**

This caused many eyebrows to be raised. Annabeth thought she should explain.

"The Gods are prohibited from meeting, or seeing their offspring,"

**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**

**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me...**

**I felt angry at my father. **

"I don't anymore, you've explained it to me, and I understand," Percy said, before anyone could interrupt him.

**Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**

Poseidon flinched slightly.

**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**

**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**

**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**

**"Because you don't want me around?"**

Thalia and Nico both slapped Percy, enraged that he said that to Sally.

**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**

"Good," Thalia said.

"**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I **_**have **_**to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**

"You have to admit, I was scared shitless,"

**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**

**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**

"Oh, how right you are," Nico said, grinning at his cousin.

**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**

**"Safe from what?"**

**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**

**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**

"Oh, yeah, Poseidon sent him to check on me. Tyson told me a little while ago," Percy said, before anyone could ask Poseidon why he would do that.

**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**

All eyes went to Hercules. He shrugged, but it didn't go unnoticed of the small blush that was creeping up his neck.

**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**

**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**

**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**

**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**

**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**

"Where Chiron teaches us," The futures said in sync.

**My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**

**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**

**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**

**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**

**That night I had a vivid dream.**

**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.**

**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**

**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, **_**No!**_

**I woke with a start.**

**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**

Thalia whistled, long and slow. "Some description you've got there Perce,"

**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**

**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**

**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**

**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**

**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**

**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**

**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**

**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**

"Busted," Nico said.

**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**

_**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" **_**he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you **_**tell **_**her?"**

"Wow, did Grover actually say that?" Annabeth said, slightly impressed. Percy nodded at her, before waving at Lady Artemis to continue reading.

**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**

"Where what?" Nico yelled, shaking Percy's shoulders. Thalia zapped him into place, before looking at Lady Artemis, so she could read.

**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: **_**"Percy. **_**Tell me **_**now**_**!"**

**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**

**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. **_**Go**_**!**_**"**_

**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**

**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**

"Oh, well that clears things up," Apollo said.

"Can I read next?" Aphrodite asked, to which Artemis snorted at.

"You can read?" Aphrodite glared at her, before Artemis tossed her the book, and she began to read.

"My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting,"

* * *

**YES! I DID IT! It's been so long! But I did update! **


	6. Chapter Five: Bullfighting Moms? Sweet!

**I'm having an updating week this week! :D Sorry for the long wait. **

* * *

"**My Mother Teaches me Bullfighting," **Aphrodite said.

"Well, that sounds interesting..."

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**

"Well, who knew Sally had it in her!" Thalia said, grinning at Percy. He rolled his eyes, and readjusted himself so that his arm was around both Annabeth and Thalia.

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.**

"Really, shag-carpet pants?" Perseus said, looking at his sister. He had gotten up from sitting next to Hercules, and mad Percy move, so he could sit in-between him and Thalia. Thalia shrugged her shoulders, not really wanting to comment on it.

**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

"Ooh, Grover won't like that!" Annabeth said, and Nico nodded in agreement. Since he had become a Lord of the Wild, Grover was a lot scarier than before.

**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**

"That sounds so wrong," Thalia said, cracking up. Thesues looked confused, and asked for Thalia to elaborate.

"Oh, it sounds like they are... you know," She said, and Percy covered his face, the blush creeping up his neck.

"Oh, oooh!" He said, understanding now. Thesues was sitting underneath his father's throne, and he stood up, walking towards his brother. He grinned at his younger brother, ruffling his head.

"You have such a strange mind, little brother," He said fondly, and Percy grinned up at him. He'd never had an older brother, and it had a nice feeling to it.

**Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**

"That is not scary at all," Perseus said, looking at Percy with an eyebrow raised. He grinned sheepishly, before waving at Aphrodite to carry on.

**"Watching me?"**

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I **_**am **_**your friend."**

"And what a fine, goat-friend he is," Percy said fondly, and all the futures smiled, agreeing with him wholeheartedly.

"Goat-friend?" Orion asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He's a satyr," Thalia responded. Hercules snorted, causing her to roll her eyes. If she didn't like Hercules before, she loathed him now.

**"Urn ... what **_**are **_**you, exactly?"**

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"**

"Oh, he certainly won't like that," Thalia said, and Nico nodded his head, smirking at Percy. He smiled sheepishly, waving at Aphrodite to continue reading. Percy snorted at the thought.

_Never thought that one day I would be telling Aphrodite to read in order to save me from embarrassment. _

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty **_**"Blaa-ha-ha!"**_

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

**"Goat!" he cried.**

"He just said that it didn't matter," Nico said, and Annabeth nodded in agreement.

**"What?"**

**"I'm a **_**goat **_**from the waist down."**

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

Percy turned to Nico, his eyebrows wiggling. Nico glared at him, before going into his stroppy teenage self again.

_**"Blaa-ha-ha!**_ **There are satyrs who would trample you under hoof for such an insult!"**

"Ooh, the Stolls have a video of you taking on a goat," Thalia blurted out, and Annabeth looked at Percy wide eyed.

"You didn't," Annabeth said, narrowing her eyes at Percy.

He grinned sheepishly, "It slipped out."

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

"WE ARE NOT MYTHS!" Zeus roared, and Percy flinched, before looking at Aphrodite pleadingly. Aphrodite took pity on him, knowing that if he died, she wouldn't be able to play around with his love life.

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a **_**myth, **_**Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

**"So you **_**admit **_**there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

Annabeth face palmed, as did most of the Olympians except for Hestia.

"Oh stop it all of you, the young hero must have been relived that he wasn't crazy," She said, and Percy grinned at her.

"This is why your one of my favourite Olympians, Lady Hestia," He said, and Hestia covered the blush that had appeared around her cheeks.

"Thank you, nephew," She said, smiling softly at his words.

**"Of course."**

**"Then why—"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**

**"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

"Oh, a Percy Jackson question," Thalia said, moving her hands side to side in a weird action.

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

"Seriously Percy? State the obvious," Annabeth said, shaking her head at her boyfriend's thoughts. He grinned at her goofily, kissing her cheek. Athena glared, until she realised what their heritage was.

"Stop! How is it that my daughter, my daughter, ended up with a Sea Spawn?" She asked, glaring at Poseidon. He rolled his eyes, before winking at Percy.

"What can I say, we sea-men are irresistible," He said, winking at Percy, Orion and Thesues.

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**

Cue glares at Hades. He shifted uncomfortably, while Nico glared into space. Thalia patted him awkwardly, before rolling her eyes, realising Nico was going into his grudge-mode.

"Well, put it in the most horrid way why don't you Grover," Nico muttered, so quiet that no-one could hear him except Thalia who smothered her grin with her hand.

"Oh stop glaring at Uncle Hades, he's a cool guy, especially when it's the Holidays, he knows how to whip up a mean Italian Chicken Parmesan," Percy said, winking at Nico, who in turn grinned.

Everyone on Olympus gaped at the Futures who were all nodding in agreement. Annabeth rolled her eyes, and waved at Aphrodite to read, to which she did with a confused expression smeared across her perfect face.

**"Grover!"**

"Well, at least someone has sense," Artemis said, referring to Percy's mother. Percy in return grinned, then started to frown as he realised what Artemis was saying.

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

"Driving, driving, driving down the river," Percy started to sing badly, Nico joining him, until Thalia screamed at them to shut up. Everyone looked at her, thankfully until she opened her mouth up.

"It's rolling down the river, Kelp Head," She said, and her and Annabeth started to giggle, then stopped realising that the Past people had no clue what they were on about. Thalia rolled her electric blue eyes, ones that Apollo's moss green ones kept looking into.

"Just continue, please," She asked.

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**

"And they are the best strawberries in the world," Percy said softly, slight drool creeping down his chin.

**"Where are we going?" I asked.**

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

Percy winced, realising where this was going. No-one seemed to notice, except Annabeth, who squeezed his fingers reassuringly.

**"The place you didn't want me to go."**

**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**

"You dare disrespect the Fates!" Hera yelled, glaring at Percy. He shrugged, but a shiver built up in him, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He waved at Aphrodite to continue, reminiscing the time when he met the Fates, more than once.

**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**

Nico winced, "Nice Grover," Thalia said, shaking her head.

"Seriously, that goat has no tact,"

**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**

**"You meant 'you.' As in **_**me.**_**"**

**"I meant **_**you, **_**like 'someone.' Not you, **_**you.**_**"**

"That is very confusing for me to understand," Artemis spoke, rolling her eyes at men's incapability on making things simple.

**"Boys!" my mom said.**

"Oh thank you, at least we have someone who's got common sense," Artemis said, taking back her previous comment.

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

**"What was that?" I asked.**

**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question.**

**"Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

"Yes, I agree with my future lover full heartedly," Poseidon said, and Thesues and Orion felt a pang of jealousy, thinking about how their father seemed so keen on Percy, but they immediately banished the thought, realising what situation they were in, and focused on keeping their brother alive. They had already lost so many of their cousins and brothers, and they really didn't want to lose another one, especially one as humble and loyal as Percy.

**I didn't know where **_**there **_**was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**

**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really **_**hadn't **_**been human. She'd meant to kill me.**

"Well duh Perry Johnson," Dionysus said, and everyone jumped not noticing that he was present. He rolled his eyes, before sipping his wine, hiccupping slightly.

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling **_**boom!, **_**and our car exploded.**

"WHAT!" Almost everyone in the room that actually like Percy screamed, standing on their feet.

Annabeth looked lethal, ready to take on anyone. It took Percy, who whispered comforting words in her ear, to get her to calm down. Even Zeus had to admit, the demigoddess was looking very scary, and he did not want to take her on in fear of maybe not being able to have any children later on in life.

**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**

**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**

**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**

**"I'm okay..."**

"Like Styx your okay! You were in a car crash!" Annabeth said, getting into hysterics. Percy rolled his eyes, before rubbing her shoulders, kissing her cheek softly.

"I'm right here Wise Girl, I'm not going anywhere," He whispered into her ear, and she visibly calmed down. Aphrodite smiled softly at the young couple, as did most Gods who liked Percy and/or Annabeth, except for Athena who was frowning at them.

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

**Lightning. **

Cue glared at Zeus. All the future demigods, minus Percy, who looked slightly embarrassed, and the gods who actually liked Percy, (Aphrodite, Apollo, Hestia, Hermes, Hephaestus, Poseidon, and surprisingly Hades and Artemis) looked appalled at the King of the Gods.

"How dare you?" Poseidon said, standing up with his hands in fists.

"Erm, Dad? Is it too late to say that I'm alright, and that there's no need to cause a war over something that has already happened or while happen in a million years?" Percy said, laughing nervously. Poseidon complied, before glaring at Zeus and sitting in his throne with an angry sigh.

**That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**

"Oh, how nice," Apollo said, sarcastically. He grinned when he noticed that Thalia rolled her eyes. He never met someone who disregarded the rules so quickly, in fact, the reckless attitude made Apollo want to, not well _have fun_ with her, but to actually get to know her. He mentally reprimand himself, this was his sister's lieutenant, and from the way that they acted already around each other, her best friend. He shouldn't have such thoughts about her, but, Aphrodite smiled a knowing look, letting Apollo know that his thoughts had been heard by the one and only Love Goddess.

He groaned mentally. _Great, know Aphrodite knows about it. _

**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**

**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

Thalia rolled her electric blue eyes, thumping Percy on the back of his head. "Well duh, Kelp Head," She said, ignoring the horrified looks of the past.

"That's-"

"It cannot be-"

"But, I already killed him-"Thesues whispered to himself. He had fought the Minotaur himself, and it was a horrid fight, he lost so much energy that day, the fight still haunted him to this day. The fact remained that if the monster was the Minotaur, then Percy would have fought him when he was twelve. The thought made Thesues' bones chill, as he looked at his brother with worry and concern.

**I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**

**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**

**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

Thalia groaned, causing people to look at her with a questioning look.

"Me and that tree. We're like one and the same," She said weakly, leaving the past baffled at what she meant, and the futures look at her with concern in their eyes.

She smiled softly at that, remembering her last moments of life, before resting her head on Nico's shoulder, who took it upon himself to not scream 'Girl Germs!' out loud, and to comfort his cousin at her worst time. He looked at Artemis in a way to show that he was comforting her, and that he saw her as a big sister who needed taking care of. She seemed to understand, as she nodded her head subtly at him. Apollo however did not see the exchange, and a scowl was present on his face, until Hermes poked him in the cheek, looking at him weirdly.

"I'll explain later," He whispered back, and everyone concentrated on the words Aphrodite said.

_**"What?"**_

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**

"Smart woman," Zeus said grudgingly, while Poseidon grinned smugly, and Hades rolled his eyes at both his brothers' actions.

**"Mom, you're coming too."**

"Percy..." Annabeth said, but it had a touch of longing to it, as if she wished that Sally would come too.

"Don't Percy me, Mom is awesome and I think everyone at Camp would love her," Percy said, sticking his chin up ignoring Annabeth's comment.

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

**"No!" I shouted. "You **_**are **_**coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

"Your actions remind me of what Thesues did just to get to his mother, brothers think alike," Lady Hestia said, and Percy and Thesues blushed.

"Thank you milady," Thesues said, and Percy nodded his head, agreeing with his older brother.

**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

Thalia rolled her eyes, while Hercules sneered at her.

"Trust Goat Boy to think of food at a time like this," Nico said, and Thalia chuckled slightly, forgetting about her depressed state only a few moments ago.

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he **_**couldn't **_**be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns …**

Everyone was silent for a bit, until Thesues looked at his younger brother in shock, standing up and sitting on the floor next to him.

"Let's see that álalos* try and get my baby brother," He said protectively, and Orion stood from where he was sitting underneath his father's throne, to sit next to Thesues as well nodding his head in agreement.

**"He doesn't want **_**us**_**," my mother told me. "He wants **_**you. **_**Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

**"But..."**

**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**

**I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat,**

Annabeth snorted very un-lady like, and Athena raised an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry, it's just, Grover the goat," She said, snickering along with all the demigods, except for Percy who looked like he would die of embarrassment.

**at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

"Seriously Percy? It's not like a bull, it is a bull!" Nico yelled, and Thalia rolled her eyes at his melodramatically personality.

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

**"I told you—"**

**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**

**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**

**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**

"Someone should really tend to that," Demeter said, frowning. Hades rolled his eyes at his sister/mother-in-law.

"Please, it could be a good hiding place from Monsters," He said, and Demeter glared at him, before huffing and waving at Aphrodite to carry on reading.

**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of **_**Muscle Man **_**magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear—**

Everyone tried to smother laughter, even the gods themselves. Orion shook his head at his brother, a grin prominent on his face. Poseidon felt a swell of pride in his chest as he looked at his sons and how well they were getting along.

**I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms**

That sent everyone over, as no-one could contain their laughter, except for Hercules and Hera, although Hercules had a fixed sneer on his face. He did not know why everyone thought that Percy was so amazing; in fact, Hercules thought that he was damn right stupid.

_But you used to be like that, and then you met Zoe... _His voice said in his mind. He cast the thought away, as a pained feeling twisted in his gut as he thought about the girl who he had deceived. He did not know why it hurt him so much just to think about her, but he did not want to dwell on it, as Aphrodite began to read.

—**which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**

**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**

"You have the most weirdest way to describe things, brother," Orion said, and Percy grinned sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders.

"Does he always say things like that?" Perseus asked Thalia and Nico in a whisper, and they nodded. Perseus grinned, and leaned back in his seat, a grin smothered across his face. He was going to enjoy this very much.

**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**

"Think again, dear nephew," Hestia said, as she tended to her hearth.

**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"**

**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said.**

"She is an enigma!" Athena shouted, standing up from her throne.

"How is she an- what is an enigma?" Poseidon asked confused, and Annabeth smiled softly, before replying.

"An enigma is the word describing a person or object that mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand," Poseidon nodded in understanding, before looking at Athena with an eyebrow raised, referring to her outburst.

"Well, she is clearly intelligent, I do not understand why she would choose to sire a child with you," Athena stated, and Poseidon's mouth opened and closed like a fish, pun intended.

Poseidon huffed, before looking at Aphrodite with a look that she interpreted to, 'Read or I'll destroy all your togas,' She happily complied.

**"I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**

**"But he's the Min—"**

**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."**

"She is definitely intelligent," Athena stated again, and Poseidon swelled, puffing his chest out slightly at his future lover.

**The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.**

**I glanced behind me again.**

**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the win dows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.**

**"Food?" Grover moaned.**

"Enough with the food!" Nico yelled, and everyone rolled their eyes, getting use to Nico's outbursts.

**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**

**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**

"Wow, how the Styx did you turn out to be clueless, and Sally be like, a Greek expert," Annabeth asked, and Percy shrugged, not really knowing the answer.

**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**

_**Not a scratch, **_**I remembered Gabe saying.**

Everyone grinned, especially the demigods, minus Hercules.

**Oops.**

That made them all turn to Percy, who blushed under the attention.

**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**

**"How do you know all this?"**

"That is what I would like to know," Athena asked, and everyone nodded their head, agreeing with her.

**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**

"Ah, so she prepared. Very good choice brother," Hades said, nodding at Poseidon.

**"Keeping me near you? But—"**

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**

**He'd smelled us.**

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**

**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**

Thesues and Orion shivered, and looked at their brother in concern. Percy just grinned at them, and they let their fears subside, but they did not go all together.

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

Everyone scrunched their nose up in detest.

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**

**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing.**

"Stop being so damn pessimistic!" Thalia said, glaring at her cousin. He raised his hands in defence, before grinning cheekily.

**So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**

"Good, you listened to your Mother," Hera said, and everyone looked at her in shock.

"What, you should always listen to your Mother," She defended, and Perseus looked at his name sake with admiration.

"Cousin, you are amazing, you broke her," He whispered, so only the demigods sitting next to each other would hear. They all chuckled, and Thalia high fived her brother.

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

"She is very brave," Hestia said, sighing sadly, as if she knew what the end result would be. Percy flinched slightly at her tone, and Annabeth kissed the top of his ear, murmuring words of comfort into them.

**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummelling the air.**

Everyone looked in shock, as Percy placed his head between his knees, while Annabeth rubbed his back. Thalia had covered her mouth, and tears were welling up in her eyes. Apollo frowned, and had this weird erge to go and comfort her, but he decided against it, as he saw Artemis look at her lietenunt in concern.

"B-but, we just visited her, after the war-" Nico slapped a hand over her mouth, and his eyes were wide. Everything went silent, as they looked at the future demigods.

"What war, sister?" Perseus said his teeth clenched.

"Nothing, you'll find out later," Thalia said, waving the comment away. Aphrodite frowned, before continuing reading, realising that she would get the answer if they read the through the book.

**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash and she was simply ... gone.**

Percy seemed shaken, as did the future demigods. Poseidon went pale and he did not know why. After all, he did not know his future lover, but then he realised why. Because Sally had given up so much for his son, that he had fallen in love with her without even meeting her.

**"No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

"Cue, ass kicking Percy," Nico said, smiling happily. The tension was diffused immediately, as Thalia clapped her hands together in anticipation.

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

**I couldn't allow that.**

"Loyal to the end," Hestia said, smiling. Although Athena's mind was going into overdrive, trying to link that to Percy's fatal flaw, but decided against it. After all they have not read enough on the young demigod, and so she couldn't really make a decision based on an assumption.

**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

"Percy, we must work on your insults in the future," Hermes said, tutting at his cousin. Percy grinned sheepishly, before replying.

"No thanks Lord Hermes, I think I'll leave the insults to your sons, Travis and Conner,"

**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

**I had an idea**

Annabeth, Thalia and Nico groaned.

"What? My ideas aren't that bad!" Percy defended half-heartedly.

"Seriously Seaweed Brain, without me, you wouldn't be alive right now," Annabeth said, and Percy grinned sheepishly, before rolling his eyes at his girlfriend.

—**a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all.**

**I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**

"Stupid..." Thalia said, in a sing song voice.

**But it didn't happen like that.**

"It never does," Nico said remorsefully.

**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**

**Time slowed down.**

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**

**Olympus was silent. They were still processing the things that had just happened. **

"Did that just happen?" Ares asked, raising an eyebrow at Aphrodite. She nodded her head, before smiling charmingly at her lover. Ares looked gobsmacked, even after Aphrodite began to read.

**How did I do that?**

"That's what we all liked to know," Artemis said.

**I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

"**Hey! That could have hurt m- I mean the tree," Thalia said weakly, ignoring the raising of eyebrows at her. **

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**

Annabeth shivered. "I hate that smell," She said, and Nico rolled his eyes.

"Who doesn't?"

**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**

**"Food!" Grover moaned.**

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light,** **and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. **

"You're not," Perseus said, looking at Percy with shock written over his face.

**The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—**_**snap!**_

"But I did," Percy said smugly, ignoring everyone's shocked face.

"How- what- you know what, I am not even going to ask," Nico said, rolling his eyes.

**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**

"You are not that idiotic Kelp Head," Thalia said, shaking her head in awe at her cousin, who grinned sheepishly back.

**The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barrelled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**

Ares let out a low whistle. "Poseidon, your son is something," He said, nodding at his Uncle. Poseidon grinned proudly, winking at Percy.

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**

**The monster was gone.**

"Oh thank the Gods," Orion said, thankful that his brother was out of harm's way.

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. **

The atmosphere seemed to drop, as the thought of the death of Sally made itself known again.

**I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm house. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.**

"True loyalty does not come often young Demigod, bare that in mind," Hestia said, smiling softly at Percy.

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.**

Annabeth turned to Percy, an eyebrow raised. Thalia, Nico, Orion, Perseus and Thesues were howling with laughter as they realised who the 'pretty girl' was.

"Princess curls, really Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked, chuckling at the blush that crept up Percy's neck.

**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**

"He's the one huh Annie," Thalia said to Annabeth, making her blush. The gods raised an eyebrow at the young couple, who were shaking in embarrassment.

**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**

That's the end of the chapter," Aphrodite said, and everyone let a breath out.

"Well, that was eventful" Hermes said, raising an eyebrow, causing Percy to smile sheepishly.

"Can I read next?" Thalia asked, and Aphrodite chucked the book at her, which she caught with her awesome demigod reflexes.

"Maybe we should read after a break?" Apollo said, and the others nodded.

"We shall have a small snack, then continue with young Perseus' story," Hera said, and with that, Hera ordered a banquet for the Gods and the Demigods.

* * *

***= ****álalos means dumb, or that's what Google Translates says. **


End file.
